


If You Felt The Same

by Pufalup



Series: Klance Shorts [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Pining Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2020-01-12 12:28:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18446555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pufalup/pseuds/Pufalup
Summary: Keith has had a crush on Lance for so long, it feels like he's never known life without it. He sees Lance beating himself up about being the weakest link, but Keith couldn't feel any more strongly that Lance is wrong. During training, the wrong words slip.





	If You Felt The Same

**Author's Note:**

> Helloo, so I've decided to make a Klance series! Every day or so, I'll post a short story into this series. This one's more angsty than all the others will be (probably). Enjoy!

Keith throws out a messy punch.  _ He should be able to block this,  _ Keith thinks as it speeds up towards Lance’s jaw.

Lance doesn’t respond in time. 

The punch lands brutally, sending a small jolt of pain up Keith’s wrist. Lance’s head snaps backwards and he stumbles.

Keith’s brow pinches. That wasn’t even a fast punch. There was plenty of obvious buildup that Lance should have seen easily. Sure, they’d been sparring for the last ten or so minutes, but Lance shouldn’t be getting tired yet.

“Lance, come on. Try harder,” Keith says. His voice echoes around the hard walls of the training deck. A bead of sweat drips from his forehead and rolls down his cheek, but his breathing is barely rougher than normal. 

Lance, on the other hand, has his back up against the opposite wall, fifty some feet away from Keith. His hands slump by his sides in defeat and his head lolls. “Why? What’s it all for, anyway? Now that we have Shiro back, I can just step aside and let Allura pilot Blue.”

Keith wants to shout in frustration. Beautiful, charismatic, perfect Lance doesn’t seem to be able to know his own worth. He never tries his hardest. He never gives it his all. He never takes the fight, the exercise, the  _ whatever  _ seriously enough. Always throwing in a joke or a pun. 

Keith can tell that Lance could be really good at hand-to-hand, if he tried. He could pass Keith in skill like it’s nothing. All of the right reflexes are there with all of the right mindsets if he  _ focused.  _

“You can do it if you’d just  _ try _ !” Keith snaps, sounding harsher than he’d intended. He immediately scolds himself.  _ Can’t you see how fragile he is right now? _ He thinks.

Lance’s gaze snaps up immediately, anger lying cold and hard in his eyes. Anger instead of happiness or relaxation or laughter. 

Keith hates it when Lance is angry. It’s unnatural on him. It doesn’t fit quite right, as if someone forced two puzzle pieces together that weren’t made to be. As if someone had dumped a bucket of black sand onto a pale beach and watched the colors pollute each other. As if someone caught a bluebird and replaced it’s voice with mechanical screeches.

Lance’s mouth twist into the beginnings of a snarl. “Can’t you see that I  _ am  _ trying, or are you too blind for that, too?” He hisses. His voice shakes slightly.

Keith’s temper gets the better of him and runs off with his mouth filter, leaving only the emotions Keith feels behind. “No, I can’t!” He spits. “We’re fighting the biggest war in the history of the universe, but you won’t pay enough attention to train for ten minutes straight!”   
He knows he shouldn’t have said it like that. He _knows_ it. Lance needs support right now, not more berating.

“Of course you can’t see it. You’re Keith, the master of everything on your first try. The amazing person who always gets everything right. Well, news flash, dumbass! Not everyone’s like that!” Lance shouts. Wetness shimmers in his eyes, threatening to spill over. “All  _ you _ see is a stupid boy who isn’t as strong as you. Who isn’t the best pilot in his class. Who isn’t a vital part of the team.” Lance runs his hands through his hair frantically. “And you know what? It kind of sucks to not be able to be as good as you, even though you hate me.”

His tears do spill over now. He wipes them away quickly, trying to suppress the hiccups in his chest.

Keith takes a deep breath, reigning himself back in. “I’m sorry.”

Lance stops, anger merging to confusion. “What?”

“I’m sorry.” Keith repeats. “I know it’s hard. I just don’t want you to get killed.” 

Lance looks away, an eyebrow arching up his forehead. “I gotta say, that’s not really what I expected to hear from you.”

“I know. And I’m sorry I used to be such an asshole to you. It wasn’t fair.” Keith says softly. He kneels in front of Lance, gently tossing his lengthening hair aside. His fingertips tingle at the contact. “I never hated you.” Keith says quietly. He laughs nervously. “I think I might be in love with you.”

“What?” Lance says, his eyes wide. He’s staring at intently, his eyes flickering around, searching. “What do you mean?”

Keith’s heart sinks. “I’m in love with you,” He says quietly, tearing his eyes away.

“Keith,” Lance whispers, a gentle kind of sadness lacing his words. “I’m sorry,”

“God, this was stupid, I’ll just-” Keith pulls back abruptly, ripping his hand back from the wiry strands of Lance’s hair. There’s a familiar burning in the corners of Keith’s eyes that clouds his vision. It prickles against his skin before finally spilling over. He feels a tear drip down his cheek, and he feels Lance wipe it away.

Keith looks back at him questioningly. Lance looks back at him softly. “It’s okay, Keith.” He says. “You do matter to me. You matter a lot. That’s why I won’t lose you over something like this, olay? I’ll still be your friend.”

With those words, the last shred of hope Keith clung to breaks, and his heart shatters. The broken pieces burn in his chest, sinking into his insides like scalding water’s heat. Keith feels the words in his bones, feels them as dull knives cutting into his skin. 

He knows what Lance is giving him is more than he can ask for, more than he should ask for. That’s all Lance signed up for, anyway. He didn’t want a creepy boy obsessing over him like Keith has been. 

Keith also knows he’s being stupid. That he should just say, ‘okay, that’s cool with me,’ and continue on like nothing happened. He should just let his and Lance’s dynamic recover slowly instead of tearing himself up inside. Keith’s had plenty of rejection in his lifetime, but it feels like he’s experiencing it all for the first time. 

He nods weakly, fighting against his tears and bone-crushing sadness. “Okay,” He whispers.

Lance smiles sadly. “Okay.”

Keith quickly excuses himself and runs out the door before taking a long, cold shower. 

And if he cries more while he’s in there, no one has to know.

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to write a quick rejection piece because that's kind of my life right now :)


End file.
